Straight edge,beam or other similar article of manufacture



Sept. 2, 1969 N BOND STRAIGHT EDGE, BEAM OR OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLE OFMANUFACTURE Filed Oct. 7, 1966 INVENTOR JasEfiw/v. 304 0 MW/011M 4ATTORNEY Patented Sept. 2, 1969 3,464,180 STRAIGHT EDGE, BEAM OR OTHERSIMILAR ARTICLE OF MANUFACTURE Joseph N. Bond, Commack, N.Y., assignorto Potter Instrument Company, Inc., Plainview, N.Y., a corporation ofNew York Filed Oct. 7, 1966, Ser. No. 585,058 Int. Cl. E04c 3/10; B21d7/00, 11/10 US. Cl. 52-720 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Thisinvention relates to the straightening or curving of long, stifl memberssuch as beams, straight edges and the like, and more particularly, to animproved method for easily and accurately straightening or curving suchmembers and also to an improved adjustable curvature member.

As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, it is costly and insome cases impractical in view of the extremely small tolerancespermitted in certain applications to accurately straighten or curverelatively long, stifl members by machining or other similar methodsknown in the prior art.

One object of this invention is the provision of an improved method forstraightening or curving relatively long, stiff members such as beams,straight edges and the like.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved member whichcan be easily and accurately straightened (or curved) by stressing themember to deflect it so that it conforms to a desired straight or curvedconfiguration.

Other and further objects of this invention will appear from thefollowing description.

Briefly, this invention contemplates the provision of outer conjugatemembers or member and an inner member which are joined at twolongitudinally spaced points. Preferably, the members are ofsubstantially equal length and are joined at their ends. To straighten(or curve) either the inner or outer members, it is deflected by a forceapplied 'by the other member at one or more points along its length.Thus, when the one member is properly aligned, all members are fullyloaded.

An important adjunct of this invention is the provision that bothmembers may have substantially the same sectional properties so thatthere is no loss of alignment due to relaxation of forces over a periodof time.

Having briefly described this invention, it will be described in greaterdetail along with other objects and advantages in the following detaileddescription of a preferred embodiment which may be 'best understood byreference in the accompanying drawings which form part of the instantspecification and which are to be read in conjunction therewith andwhich like reference numerals are used to indicate like parts in thevarious views;

FIGURE 1 is a plan view of an embodiment of a member whose edge may bealigned by the practice of this invention;

FIGURE 2 is a sectional view along the line 22 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a detailed fragmentary view, on a somewhat enlarged scale ofthe section of FIGURE 2, with a tool in position for aligning an edge ofthe member;

FIGURE 4 is a schematic drawing of the member shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 5 is a side view of a cylindrical beam (with the beam in crosssection), illustrating another embodiment of this invention; and

FIGURE 6 is an end view of the 'beam shown in FIG- URE 5.

Referring now to FIGURES 1 and 2 of the drawings, a rectangular plate10, whose side 16 may be employed as a straight edge, for example, issandwiched between two similar conjugate plates 12 and 14.

Pins 18 and 20 respectively join plates 10, 12 and 14 together neartheir ends. Conveniently, pins 18 and 20 are force fitted into alignedbores in the plates, which bores are of equal diameter.

At so-called straightening stations designated in FIG- URE 1 by theletters A, B, and C, there are aligned bores 22, 24 and 26 in the plates12, 14 and 10, respectively, into which tools may be placed forstraightening the side 16. The diameter of bore 26 is slightly largerthan the diameter of the bores 22 and 24 which are of equal diameter.

At each of the stations, a screw 28 on either side of the bores 22, 24and 26 is screwed into the upper plate 12 and passes through enlargedbores 32 and 34 in the plates 10 and 14, respectively. It should benoted that the "bore 32 in plate 10 is large enough relative to thediameter of the screw 28 to allow suflicient movement of plate 10 tobring its edge 16 into the desired alignment. When the edge 16 isproperly aligned, the beam is tightly clamped between the plates 12 and14 by means of nuts 36 which screw onto the screws 28 and engage thelower surface of the plate 14.

Referring now to FIGURE 3, to align the edge 16, a suitable tool such asthat generally indicated by the reference numeral 38 is inserted intothe bores 22, 24 and 26. The tool illustrated has a cylindrical bodyportion 42 which snugly fits the bores 22 and 24 and a threaded bore 44into which a screw 46 can be screwed. Screw 46 has a conical point whichcontacts a ball bearing 48 riding in a port in the wall of the bodymember 42. As screw 46 is screwed downwardly, it forces the ball 48outwardly.

Referring now to FIGURE 4, in aligning the edge 16 of the beam 10 with astraight line 52, the plates 10, 12 and 14 are initially joined by pins18 and 20. It should be noted that while in the illustrated embodimentof the invention it is convenient to join the plates at their ends bymeans of pins 18 and 20, in other applications it may be advantageous tojoin the plates at two other points or to join them in some alternativemanner, as by clamping or by the arrangement of their contiguoussurfaces, for example.

The adjusting procedure is accomplished by inserting a plurality oftools 38 at each station, A, B and C, with the ball 48 so orientatedthat it applies a force which deflects the edge 16 in the directionrequired for conformance to the reference line 52. When the edge 16 hasbeen deflected to the dotted line 54 (which is parallel to the referenceline), the nuts 36 at each station are tightened, clamping the plate 10.The tools 38 may then be removed from the assembly for reuse.Alternatively, one tool may be used at each station in turn and the edge16 may be brought into alignment at that station and nut 36 tightened.

Any suitable spacing may be used between the stations; for example, astation spacing equal to approximately two and one half times the widthof the plate is usually satisfactory. The plates 12 and 14 areadvantageously about one half as thick as the plate 10 so that thesectional properties of these conjugate plates in combination isapproximately the same as that of the plate 10.

Referring now to FIGURES and 6, in this embodiment of the invention, amember 62 positioned inside a hollow beam 64 is used to camber the beam.Of course, it will be understood that the beam 64 could be straightenedif desired. However, it is usually desirable to camber a load bearingmember so as to compensate for its deflection under load. 1 An adjustingscrew 66 screws into a threaded bore at one end of member 62, and theother end of the member contacts the inner surface of the beam. Aprotuberance or hump 68 in the member 62 also contacts the upper surfaceof the beam.

In cambering the beam 64, member 62 is positioned within the beam andscrew 66 adjusted until hump 68 contacts the beam. In this position, therespective ends of member 62 and beam 64 are contiguous so that they canmove relative to one another as screw 66 is screwed further into thebore in member 62. Continued adjustment of screw 66 causes hump 68 toexert a force on the beam 64 which deflects towards the dotted line 70.When beam 64 has been deflected sufficiently to impart the desiredcamber, adjustment of screw 66 is stopped. The beam 64 is then ready foruse; member 62 is left in place, exerting a force on beam 64 andincreasing its stiffness.

It should be noted that members constructed in accordance with theteachings of this invention are stressed but that the stress is wellbelow their eleasticity limit so that no permanent deformation of themembers occurs.

Thus, it will be seen that the objects of the invention have beenaccomplished. Long, rigid members can be straightened or curved withoutexpensive machining or other metalworking operations. The forces appliedto deflect a member into desired configuration are balanced when thedesired configuration is achieved so that there is no loss of alignmentdue to deflection of the clamps or members used to maintain alignment.

It will be understood that certain features and subcombinations are ofutility and may be employed without reference to other features andsubcombinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of theclaims. It is further obvious that various changes may be made indetails within the scope of the claims without departing from the spiritof the invention. It is, therefore, to be understood that this inventionis not to be limited to the specific details shown and described.

What is claimed is:

1. An article of manufacture that has been manipulated to apre-determined shape, comprising in combination:

at least two generally co-extensive members joined together near theirrespective ends, one of said members applying a force against the otherof said members at one point intermediate said ends,

said force deflecting said other member to a desired configurationwithout stressing either member beyond its elastic limit.

2. An article of manufacture as in claim 1 wherein said force is appliedat a plurality of discrete points intermediate said ends.

3. An article of manufacture as in claim 1 wherein said second member isa cylindrical beam and said first member is disposed within said beam.

4. An article of manufacture as in claim 3 wherein a hump on said firstmember contacts the interior of said cylinder and applies said forcethereto, and means at one end of said first member for moving itrelative to said second member and thereby varying said force.

5. An article of manufacture as in claim 2 wherein the sectionalproperties of said one member are substantially the same as thesectional properties of the other member.

6. An article of manufacture that has been manipulated to apredetermined shape comprising, in combination:

a plate sandwiched between two similar plates,

pins at each end of said plates joining said plates together,

at leat two bores extending through said plates intermediate said pinsto receive a tool which applies a defleeting force to said sandwichedplate and the reactio force to said sandwiching plates, and

means adjacent said bores for clamping said plates together.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 251,563 12/1881 Fagan 72-3861,342,263 6/1920 Goben 72390 2,060,013 11/1936 Baker 72389 3,266,2858/1966 Jensen 72370 3,251,162 5/1966 Strimple 52-720 RONALD D. GREEE,Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 72.-388

